So often in life an individual can highlight a cause, be a positive or negative symbol of an issue affecting thousands of others. Through that one person or, in this particular case, one animal, we can learn about and identify with their joy or suffering. It is a powerful and unforgettable experience.

Today is the 34th anniversary of the death of Pole Pole, an elephant my husband Bill and I knew well. Some people know the story but, for those who don’t, I will just tell you a little about her life which led to her premature death. It was 1968, and Bill and I were making a film in Kenya – ‘An Elephant Called Slowly’. We filmed in Tsavo National Park in Kenya where David Sheldrick was Senior Warden, and where his wife Daphne had begun her renowned work with orphaned elephants.

At that time she had two teenage elephants, but we needed a little one for our story and David mentioned he knew of one in a trapper’s yard in Nairobi. She was a terrified and traumatised little two year old, having been taken from her family in the wild. But within two days David had calmed her. Without doubt she was the ‘star’ of the film and we loved her beyond words.

Filming over, we asked if we could buy her and give her to Daphne. This was agreed – but. The ‘but’ was horrifying. It was possible only if the authorities caught another elephant in her place – as the Government of that time had promised to give a little one to London Zoo. Another family distraught, another little elephant doomed for a life in captivity, in a strange land amongst strangers? It was impossible.

Pole Pole was in London Zoo until her untimely end. It was tragic to see her there. The moment Bill and I visited her in 1982 – following a letter from Daphne that alerted us to a potential problem – is engraved on my memory forever.

She was a poor-looking thing, dry skin, only one partially broken tusk – and alone. We couldn’t believe it was the same animal. She was slowly pacing up and down the compound, a few visitors looked on. Then we called her, ‘Pole Pole’. She stopped, came towards us and put out her trunk to touch our hands. Even now I can hardly bear to think of it.

We tried to help her, and found a Reserve in South Africa who would give her a home and an experienced ‘elephant person’ to go with her. To no avail. However, the zoo said they would move her to Whipsnade, where there were other elephants.

The day for the move arrived. A travelling crate had been in place for several days and, apparently, she went calmly into it. Unfortunately she was kept standing in it for so long she collapsed and later, having had a damaged leg which was examined under anaesthetic, she was ‘put down’. I was told that she had lost the will to live.

Pole Pole’s story tells us everything that’s wrong with keeping elephants in zoos. They are social, family animals and should never be alone. Unfortunately we know that, just in Europe, there are at least 40 elephants who exist in this way. Elephants can walk up to 80 km in a day choosing their food, exploring different paths, planting the forests of the future with the seeds in their dung. They are creatures with a purpose.

And, of course, in mentioning the way we control and dominate these wise and wonderful animals, I must not forget what they experience when they are in the circus. Not only is their confinement even more severe, but they are made to perform inane tricks under the lights of ‘The Big Top’, on command. It would drive any creature mad.

My plea to all those who still keep elephants in zoos and circuses is to show some respect and humanity towards them. Help end the horrific ‘trade’ in elephants, whereby they are captured from the wild and sent to zoos – often in the Far East. Not all survive.

End the fearful ivory trade.

End the breeding of elephants in captivity – show some compassion and respect for this most sensitive and wisest of creatures.

What a legacy Pole Pole will have left, if all I hope for comes true. World Elephant Day will have a new meaning.

Just a week or so after the shocking news story about Xanda, (a male lion with dependent cubs)and one of Cecil the lion’s adult sons, being shot as a trophy in Zimbabwe, it seems the whole issue of trophy hunting is firmly back on the international radar with news of the launch of a new Sport Hunting Channel.

Here’s my reaction:

“It won’t only be Arsenal supporters (like me) who will be outraged by My Outdoor TV (MOTV), launched recently in the UK by billionaire Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke.

Anyone who has a beating heart will be sickened by images of grown men and women celebrating the killing of wild lions and other iconic species for ‘fun’.

Let’s be clear:

Trophy hunting isn’t poaching – the illegal killing of animals, such as elephants for their ivory.

Trophy hunting isn’t subsistence hunting by people surviving from day to day on the animals they hunt to food.

Trophy hunting isn’t even the hunting of animals to control their populations, such as deer in many European countries, where natural predators have long been eradicated.

Whatever trophy hunters may say – that it’s about being in the great outdoors; that these are problem animals that need controlling; that it’s all about the hunt, not the actual killing – trophy hunters do exactly what it says on the tin. They hunt for trophies so they can put the head of their victim on the wall and brag about their bravery to their buddies – as if killing a wild animal with a high-powered rifle or bow from a hundred feet away or more was some kind of badge of courage!

‘All dangerous game safaris are exciting and challenging hunts and yes, a thrill of a lifetime!’ That’s what it is really all about for trophy hunters.

Football is called ‘the beautiful game’ but, Mr Kroenke, one of its wealthiest supporters, may be contributing to the end of our beautiful ‘game’ – the wild animals that still cling to existence across an increasingly human-dominated world.

And now, Mr Kroenke’s trophy hunting channel will permit some people to share the ‘thrill of a lifetime’ by watching others kill for ‘fun’. It is the equivalent of a legal ‘snuff movie’. I say enough is enough. We can and must protect wildlife and wild places without killingand it’s time for the majority to speak out. Born Free has been, and always will be, against trophy hunting, and for Compassionate Conservation. Join us.”

How many tigers are left in the wild? And what about in 5 years’ time? Or when my 6 year-old child has grandchildren? Fundamentally, these questions are unanswerable. Tigers are solitary creatures, disliking disturbance of any kind and moving silently through their forests, often coming close to people without our knowledge. We can gather and assess information about their presence in a given area, and estimate numbers, but these figures will never be a comprehensive assessment of all tiger populations, and may not be comparable from one country to another or even from one year to another.

Estimating tiger numbers is a worthy pursuit, but it can give us a false impression, resulting in a sense of complacency if numbers appear to be increasing. Just as importantly, it can distract us from the more important questions we should be asking.

A couple of years ago, I attended a meeting in India which brought together high-level government officials from tiger range countries, as well as organisations and individuals focussed on saving tigers. A figure which appeared to indicate an increase in the global tiger population had been bandied about to much fanfare in a press release issued just a day before the meeting began. On the morning of the first day, the delegates got busy working their way through the agenda, and at one point I found myself in a room with some eminent scientists and tiger conservationists discussing tiger reintroductions. But there was an elephant in the room and, at one point between presentations, one of those in the audience decided to address it, making the following powerful observation: that it mattered less how many tigers we counted at any given point, and much more how many of them we could actually protect from unchecked development, habitat degradation, conflict with people and of course poaching gangs which feed the demand for parts and products many miles away from where tigers live.

There is nothing inconclusive or vague about the reality of these threats, nor of their impact on tiger populations across Asia. So, if we want a future with tigers, we have to ask ourselves some critically important questions which have a direct bearing on protecting what tigers we have, and securing a future for ourselves which includes these iconic animals.

First of all, how many tigers do we want, and linked to that, how far down the road to achieving that objective are we as a global community?

How can we drastically reduce the threats tigers face, and what are the key practical and proven solutions which can be rolled out in a coordinated way in and around tiger habitat?

What are the main roadblocks which are preventing tiger populations from growing, and how should we overcome or work around them?

Are there enough wild places which are undisturbed, adequately protected and contain all a tiger needs to not only survive but thrive? Has our approach to date worked? Are there other or better ways?

How far are we prepared to go to ensure a world with more tigers? What value are we prepared to place on them? Is everyone, including donors, local communities, and politicians, prepared for the implications of having more tigers?

Is the global community going to rally together and demand an end to captive tiger breeding in East and Southeast Asia (tiger “farming”), which stimulates demand for tiger skin, claws, teeth and tiger bone wine from both captive-bred and wild tigers?

These and more are the questions we need to pose and answer, now and every day in the future – not just when Global Tiger Day rolls around.

23rd May 2017 is a date that will remain engraved on our hearts always. Some dates are like that, often for the happiest of reasons – others for the darkest. The city of Manchester was yet another victim of the world’s perpetrators of violence and intolerance. The cruel and arbitrary killing of innocent people, including children, seems to sweep across the world in relentless waves. No one knows when or if it will end. No one knows how to end it.

Overwhelmed as everyone is by this tragedy, ‘life’ goes on. And that includes the election of a new government in a weeks’ time. Promises of good things are made by all the Parties. I won’t list them here but included, of course, are housing, the health service, education, defence…. But some issues are conspicuous by their absence.

I cannot specifically name political parties; as a charity we have to be a-political. But while, in some respects, the promises made are encouraging, others are quite the opposite. Building on ‘Green Belt’, a free vote to bring back fox-hunting, to name a couple.

There is one personal example I can give. The approval of proposals to ‘explore’ for oil in the area near where I live – which is both Green Belt and a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Money turns all to dust. ‘Oh, we will put it all back when we’ve finished’ they cry. Do they mean replant all the trees; entice the wild creatures to return to a barren land?

Nature has never been more vulnerable, and I am not only writing about the land around us, here on this small island. As a direct result of human activities and our ever-growing population, there is less and less room for wildlife. We are in a state of total imbalance. On the whole, wild animals, if left alone, just get on with their lives – but that’s an ever-increasing challenge. We like to use them – make money out of them for food, for ‘sport’, take their land, destroy their habitats. Only occasionally do we reflect on their aesthetic contribution to the planet.

It is many years since Joanna Lumley and I wrote to the then Prime Minister, asking for there to be a ban on wild animals in circuses. Basically we were told it would be delivered ‘when Parliamentary time allows’. We know, for a fact, that a huge cross-party majority of MPs would like a ban. Yet, so far, nothing has been done. A handful of animals continue to languish in their trailers or in ‘winter quarters’, performing in the ring to command when the season begins. We lag, shamefully, behind 19 other countries.

We permit the sale of wild animals on the internet – who knows where they have come from or where they are going? Birds in small cages unable to fly, puppy ‘farms’, intensive poultry rearing, the badger cull, calves removed from their mothers for the veal industry, the lifetime confinement of wild animals in zoos. And the elephant ivory trade, the poaching of rhino for their horn, the ‘trophy hunting’ of big cats – so shockingly forced into our consciousness by the meaningless and illegal death of Cecil the beautiful lion, cruelly killed in Zimbabwe by an American dentist.

I don’t want words – I’ve used far too many here. I want action. I implore our leaders, whoever they are, to set an example of kindness, sensitivity, compassion towards animals as well as humans. They seem to forget, or perhaps are just indifferent to the fact, that animals also feel pain, joy, loneliness, fear, jealousy, friendship.

Here at Born Free we know, from the experience of our work over the past 33 years, that the perils faced by the natural world I have described above are not an exaggeration.

I think living creatures deserve better than that. I think we need to ‘Keep Wildlife in the Wild’, where it belongs.

“I have been thinking about the date, May 23rd 2017. The news of the Manchester bomb attack and the death of a loved and famous actor revealed to us on the same day.

As a parent, I can only imagine the horror being endured by those who have lost loved ones or whose beautiful children have been brutally injured by the disgusting and cowardly attack at the Ariana Grande concert. We all weep as one and we all share a determination to resist those who seek to force us to be other than the caring, compassionate, inclusive society we cherish.

The death of Roger Moore has been a shock and is another great sadness. I knew he was ill, but – nevertheless. I understand well what his family are going through and, of course, I feel for them very much.

My personal memories are perhaps different from what we are reading and seeing on television. They go back to 1954. Bill and I together with Roger were in a theatre production of “I Capture the Castle” in London (pictured). Roger played the part of Stephen Colly and we all thought he was gorgeous and charming. So did Hollywood, as he was whisked off there, before the play ended, and signed a contract with MGM.

But, in spite of fame and fortune, Roger had a deep current of compassion flowing through his veins. Compassion for humans, expressed through his long-term work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador (since 1991) – he was awarded the UNICEF Audrey Hepburn Award in 2004. And compassion for animals, where he held some very strong and critical views on animal exploitation and cruelty. Trophy hunting, the use of wild animals in circuses, the relentlessly cruelty involved in the production of foie gras (his work significantly contributed to Selfridges ending foie gras sales in November 2009).

For many years we exchanged emails on these issues. He was deeply shocked that anyone could hurt or hunt a wild creature for “fun”, sport, or a trophy.

When it came to wild animals in circuses, I know he had reserved a very special bottle of champagne to take to Downing Street to present to Teresa May if – no, WHEN – she (or whoever the Prime Minister of the day was at the time) finally ended this archaic and cruel relic of the past. We agreed to knock on her door together.

As a tribute to his memory, I once more ask Mrs May to do just that. I am aware that many issues are on her desk at the moment, but the job is done, the legislation is written, the support is overwhelmingly there. It shouldn’t take much precious Parliamentary time Prime Minister.

Surely the animals deserve that and dear much-missed Roger can rest in peace.”

It hardly seems five minutes since the last time, but once again we find ourselves in the midst of UK General Election fever.

However, things are substantially different this time round. The referendum result almost a year ago changed everything. Brexit is dominating the headlines, threatening to drown out discussion of the NHS, social care, education, jobs, security and the domestic economy.

Wildlife protection hardly seems to be getting a look-in. But the election could profoundly impact the UK’s future policies on nature conservation, environmental management and animal welfare, in no small part because many of our current rules relating to nature and wildlife come from Brussels.

Prospective parliamentary candidates mustn’t be allowed to forget how important wildlife protection is to the vast majority of their prospective constituents. Our next government will be negotiating our exit from the European Union and deciding which European Directives and Regulations we should keep, and which we should throw out. The Common Agricultural and Fisheries Policies, Europe’s nature directives, wildlife trade regulations, and many other pieces of European legislation, will no longer directly apply to the UK, and the consequences for our wildlife could be profound.

But Brexit also offers the UK an opportunity.

We like to pride ourselves as being a nation of animal lovers, and a country that leads the world on nature protection and environmental issues.

Now is the time for prospective parliamentary candidates from across the political spectrum to pledge their support for a Britain that not only accepts the need to maintain European safeguards for wildlife, but will set an example to the world by going above and beyond our current protections and put in place progressive policies aimed at halting and reversing wildlife declines and improving animal welfare.

To this end, my colleagues at Born Free and I have put together a set of election priorities for wildlife, which we are calling on all candidates and Parties to endorse. These include maintaining and improving on current EU regulations concerning nature and animal protection as we prepare to leave the EU; adopting a leading role in international efforts to tackle wildlife trafficking starting, with a UK ivory trade ban; improving protections for both native and captive wildlife against all forms of exploitation and abuse; and introducing nature education into the National Curriculum for all children.

It’s not for us as a charity to advocate or support any particular political party. But we are asking people who care about wild animals, captive or free-living, to demand that their prospective parliamentary candidates prioritise the protection of wildlife in their campaigns, and ensure these issues are given the highest priority if they are elected to Parliament.

Whatever the colour of the new Government on June 9th, we will continue to push for the highest level of protection for our wildlife, and the highest standards of welfare for all animals.

As Mahatma Ghandi rightly said “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

The week of May the 1st 2017 was an incredibly exciting week for Born Free as we helped give two needy wild animals a second chance of a life worth living. I have asked my friend and colleague, Beth Brooks, to tell the story in the Guest Blog.

Enjoy!

Will

“With his head held high, Ciam the lion stood in the middle of his vast enclosure, surrounded by the vivid greens and browns of the African bush. Proud, elegant and taking in the sights, smells and sounds of South Africa, Ciam was home.

Just moments before, Virginia McKenna had opened the gate of Ciam’s night quarters at Born Free’s Jean Byrd Centre at Shamwari, South Africa.

Ciam had spent the first seven months of his life as an ‘exotic pet’ in a cramped cage. This was followed by 18 months at Belgian wildlife sanctuary Natuurhulpcentrum (NHC), so no one knew how he would react to so much space. But he immediately began to explore his new home.

This incredible moment was the culmination of a 32-hour, 10,000km journey by road and air from Belgium to South Africa to rehome Ciam, and 17-year-old former zoo lion Nelson. I was honoured to be a member of the Born Free rehoming team which included colleagues from Shamwari and NHC.

That same morning, Nelson had been introduced to his new home at Born Free’s Julie Ward Animal Rescue and Education Centre. Nelson was rescued from a French zoo and had also been living at NHC, but wasn’t as keen to embrace change as Ciam. With a little encouragement, Nelson left his night quarters for a brief stroll around his new home, but headed back in soon afterwards. Over the next couple of days his visits to his main enclosure started getting longer, and we are confident he will soon be fully settled at Shamwari.

The different reactions of Ciam and Nelson to their new homes highlighted for me why Born Free’s Compassion Conservation philosophy is so important. Born Free has not just given two lions a new forever home – Born Free has given two individuals a new life. Two lions with completely different personalities who have had to endure hardship and deprivation. Gentle and playful Ciam took the long journey and the introduction to his new home in his stride. But the much older Nelson – having spent 17 years in a zoo – will certainly take longer to adjust. Every animal truly is different.

Ciam and Nelson can never be released fully back into the wild, but at Shamwari – and with the wonderful Born Free team there – they will receive the best care possible. Care that will hopefully erase memories of the suffering they have been forced to endure for the sake of human entertainment.

Together they highlight the plight of the millions of captive wild animals around the world – kept in zoos, circuses or as exotic pets. Individually, they show that every single animal deserves a life worth living.

It was quite an experience for them – and it was quite an experience for me. One I shall never forget.

I was honoured to join a panel moderated by the visionary Steven M Wise, President of the Non-Human Rights Project, to discuss ‘The Threat to Our Happiness’ together with the Reverend Fletcher harper and Beth Allgood from IFAW.

I’m absolutely freezing! It is hard to believe that in Africa you would need to wear three layers inside your sleeping bag but at nearly 14,000 feet above sea level, high up in the Bale Mountains at the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Research Centre, that is exactly what you need – and hot soup helps too!

I am here with Professor Claudio Sillero, Born Free’s Head of Conservation, Dr Zelealem Tefera, Born Free’s Country Manager in Ethiopia, together with Alo and the rest of the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Project team, looking for the world’s most endangered wolf.

They are only found at 10,000 feet above sea level; they are only found in Ethiopia; they are only found in the wild; and there are none in captivity.

This elegant red and white wolf, a specialist hunter, which feeds mainly on rodents (and, in particular, the one kilogram giant mole rat) is incredibly rare and beautiful. Against the dramatic skyline, as scudding clouds, in turn, shift the landscape from blazing sun to almost purple grey, the Ethiopian wolf stands out. They hunt alone but live together, taking enormous care looking after and raising their precious pups. Over 12 months ago, a rabies outbreak (contracted from dogs living in outlying communities) decimated the population but this year’s pups are numerous and wolves are on the increase again.

I reflected as I walked with Alo, the Head of the Wolf Monitoring Team, across the stark but beautiful landscape, how strange it is that there are four times as many giant pandas in the world – recipients of millions of column inches and tens of millions of dollars – and yet the Ethiopian wolf barely gets a look in. It is even more bizarre to think that while almost none of us will see an Ethiopian wolf in the wild, we have its ‘relative’ in millions of households across the UK. The companionship of domestic dogs which bring much joy into our lives would not exist were it not for wolves and so, as we fight to save this species and its fragile habitat, I reach out to all dog owners, asking them to show some respect and to lend their support to the ancestors of the animal that sits by the fire, fetches the ball and pulls us along full of joy and glee when we shout ‘walkies’.

So when you next look at your dog, remember the Ethiopian wolf and help us at Born Free to give the species a long-term future.

Born Free Kenya, the Kenya Wildlife Service, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and Elsa’s Kopje Lodge to the rescue!

They say a picture tells a thousand words, so here is a short video of a dramatic and amazing incident that happened during my recent trip to Meru National Park in Northern Kenya.

Lodge Manager, George, had witnessed an elephant with a grapefruit-size injury which was weeping pus on the left-hand side of his belly, near the hind-leg. George asked whether we could help and, of course, I said yes – but how to find one elephant in over 800 sq kms?

The following morning at 6 am we set off, criss-crossing the Park to try and look for the injured animal. By 11.30 am, we had come up with nothing. However, just as we got back to the Lodge to take a short break, George pointed to a solitary young male elephant visible through binoculars from the Lodge itself. We rushed down to see whether he was our candidate. He was, so together with Tim Oloo, Born Free’s Country Manager, we sat in our vehicle observing him while the KWS vet, Dr Rono, supported by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, was alerted and drove to the scene along with members of the Born Free Kenya team. It was not easy. After several hours, the elephant started to move off and ended up in a very rocky and inaccessible area where vehicles could not go.

Thinking that he may be following a watercourse, we drove around to the next track and within half an hour, lo and behold, ‘our elephant’ crossed the track and headed up to a flat and open area to the left. Victor, our Born Free Project Manager, and Dr Rono followed, leaving us to wait for a radio signal to join them when it was appropriate. The minutes seemed to drag. There was no news. Suddenly the radio sprang into life and Victor urgently called us in to help make sure that other elephants in the area did not come to the aid of their now prostrate companion. We were with him in just ten minutes.

It turned out that the grapefruit-sized lump on his side was only the tip of a putrid iceberg. Inside the body cavity, the wound was seemingly five or six times as large and with literally litres of putrid material and pus. Dr Rono expertly flushed the system out making a small incision about six inches below the main wound so that it could drain properly. Then the heavily-sedated elephant was given antibiotics and other medication before he administered the reversal injection.

We all retreated to the relative safety of our vehicles to see what would happen next. Within 60 seconds the elephant was up, seemingly bemused and really cross! He charged away up the hill before turning to the nearest innocent bush and giving it a thorough beating. Then, with a further series of outraged trumpets, he disappeared into the distance, just as light was fading.

The film is here. It is a story of compassion and, I hope, success. I have asked the Born Free team on the ground to report back to confirm that the elephant is well and is making a good recovery. Dr Rono suggested that he would take a further look and gave the elephant a 70% chance of survival. I hope he is right. But one thing is for sure, if KWS, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Elsa’s Kopje Lodge and Born Free Kenya had not stepped in, he would almost certainly be dead.